“Rainbow Dash and her powers. Promise you’ll never tell anypony about any of it!”

“I… I promise!” she stammered.

Pinkie continued to stare her down.

Apple Bloom lifted her hoof, and traced an ‘X’ on her chest before touching her eyelid. Sealing the pact.

Finally satisfied, Pinkie helped the young filly get back to her hooves. “Now, since that’s taken care of. Who exactly did she tell?”

Suddenly, a knock came from one particular window, and a nervous pegasus, and the dragon standing on her back, peered through.

“Nevermind.”

Water shot across a porcelain surface, taking with it small amounts of foodstuffs.

Rarity stared at the plate, as she contemplated Rainbow’s story.

Her best friend could talk to the dead, and it was a state secret.

Now what?

Hoofsteps resonated behind the mare, breaking her out of her reverie.

She quickly glanced at the approaching pony, before turning back to her cleaning.

“Oh. Hello, Rainbow Dash,” she said.

“… Heeeeeeeeeey… Rarity…” she replied nervously.

“Are you alright?” the unicorn asked aptly.

She opened her mouth to reply, but froze, unsure of herself. “No,” she finally responded.

Rarity turned off the water, and turned toward her friend. “What?” she asked, in genuine confusion. “What’s wrong?”

She started to rub her left foreleg. “It’s Scootaloo. I didn’t want her to know.”

She looked past the medium, into the showroom beyond. “They left?”

“Yeah, they’re on their way back to school.”

She nodded. “Alright. So, why don’t you trust Scootaloo?”

“It’s not that, it’s just… I didn’t want her to know, I thought…” Rainbow found herself unsure. “I thought she might ask for a favour.”

Rarity was confused. “What kind of favour?”

She leaned in close. “A ‘summoning the dead’ favour.”

“But she’s not.”

“Maybe she’s just waiting to ask.”

Awkward silence descended.

“Rainbow,” the unicorn eventually asked. “Can I ask a question?”

She nodded.

“Back at the citadel. You were… um… you were in bad shape.”

She bit her lower lip. “Yeah?”

“I… just thought…” she was unsure of how to continue. But thankfully, she didn’t need to.

“It was,” she replied. “It was related.”

Rarity was slightly shocked at the revelation, but continued. “How?”

Rainbow Dash shuffled her hooves, then looked her best friend in the eye, and said, “They really were dead. Every last one of them really was dead.”

Knocking, knocking, more knocking.

A dragon’s soul is fierce and strong;

It became unbearable.

With valiant pride, we’ll right the wrongs;

The knocking wouldn’t end. Wouldn’t cease.

Blood will spill, as love will reign;

How far did it spread? Was she the last? Was that why they were knocking on her?

And all our foes will feel our pain;

When would it end?

A dragon’s heart burns strong with will;

She wanted it to end.

A passion which no colt could kill;

She could feel their pain… their fear… their sorrow… their confusion… as they brushed against her mind.

The fields of sorrow, stained with red;

Did they know what was happening? Did they know what they were?

A land which all will fear to tread;

Did they know they died?

“Rainbow Dash,” a voice came, miles away. “Are you okay, do you need anything?”

She needed nothing. She needed less than nothing. She needed them to go away.

“Can you get up?”

Rainbow nodded, and complied, still holding back the tide as she approached the stone she tried so hard to collect.

All she could do was recite her protective mantra, but it was merely a sandbag levee against a hurricane. Eventually, it would break.

A loud crash. She ignored it.

“Rainbow!”

The fields of sorrow, stained with red; A land which all will fear to tread;

She looked up, and realized she was the only one with wings. The mare floated toward one of the upper windows.

As she got higher, she felt more and more disoriented, the spirits continuing to bombard her mind.

She leaned against the pane, and peered outside. Using what little mental power she had, she tried to analyse what she saw: Zombies flooding through a hole in the outer wall. “They got through one of the barricades,” she said.

Just then, her wings failed her. It was only a brief second, but it was enough to break her concentration as she tried to right herself.

It was enough to let one in.

Somepony started looking through her eyes. Lost and confused.

A dragon’s soul is fierce and strong; With valiant pride, we’ll right the wrongs; Blood will spill, as love will reign; and all our foes will feel our pain;

It was gone, as quickly as it came.

Rainbow slowly drifted back down to her stone.

Hopefully, it would forget.

Rarity stared at her friend, amazed at what she had learned.

“They attacked you?” she asked.

“Well, I wouldn’t put it that way,” Rainbow explained. “They didn’t know, they were scared.”

She was still slightly confused. “But if they were really dead… how did they get better?”

“Yeeeah…” she replied, scratching the back of her neck. “I was afraid you’d ask that.”

“RAINBOW DASH!!!” a voice cried from Rarity’s showroom.

The duo trotted through the door frame, to find a very angry Pinkie Pie.

“What the hay are you thinking!? This is a major national secret! How would your cousins feel if they knew you were telling everypony about the Rainbows!” she continued. “I mean, it’s bad enough you refuse to dye your mane, now this!?”

Rainbow was in shock. She’d never seen this side of Pinkie before. One of anger, righteous anger!

“And I assume you told Rarity as well; since apparently, you can’t keep your snout shut!”

“I… I’m sorry, I had to-”

“No you didn’t! There’s never a reason! You’re just lucky I stopped Apple Bloom from letting it leak! She was planning to tell Applejack! Applejack!!!”

The schoolyard at Ponyville Elementary was always well-populated by foals at this time of day, as they neared the end of their lunch break. Most were playing and socializing, their last chance before it was time to return to their studies.

But this day, far away from most others, huddling against a secluded edge of the school building, two young foals took advantage of the time remaining, by discussing something they weren’t even supposed to know about.

“So, you saw it happen!?” Scootaloo whispered enthusiastically.

Sweetie Belle nodded. “Mmmhm. She summoned Fluttershy’s grandmother. Spike said she died 20 years ago.”

“How would Spike know?”

“Apparently she’s famous. She wrote Daring Do.”

“Spring Orchard?”

She nodded again.

“Cool!” she looked around the area, watching for spies, before continuing. “So, what was it like?”

“It was a bit weird. She didn’t act like Rainbow Dash. But it was pretty cool. I met a dead pony.”

The pegasus smiled.

Suddenly, their attention was caught by a moping earth pony entering their field of view.

“Hey, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said. “What was with the panic mode back there?”

“I… I just…” she replied.

“Hey, don’t worry, she had a very good reason to keep it a secret. It’s fine. I’m not worried.”